Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Chapter Sixteen

Magdalena

I stopped crying a while ago. I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm still leaning on, and holding on to Malcolm's leg. He hasn't stopped petting my hair since he first started, and it makes me wonder if he's getting tired of doing it, though he hasn't given me any sign of intending to stop.

I've completely made a fool of myself, all my street cred – right out the window. I try to keep myself as still as possible. Maybe if I stay still enough I'll vanish into thin air. Or, maybe spontaneously evaporate.

"Lena, darling?" Malcolm's voice interrupts my spiralling thoughts, nope, he is not talking to me. "Look at me, please." I retort to shaking my head silently, way to be fucking childish, Lena. "I need you to look at me for what I'm going to tell you." Damn it, the ground hasn't swallowed be whole yet. I guess looking at him is the least I can do after I've just used his leg as a Kleenex. I take a deep, quiet breath and look at him. His hand moves to caress my chin instead, making me flinch even though I tried to avoid it. He lets go for just a second, before his hand goes back to caressing it. "There you are, love. Feeling better?" I actually do feel a bit lighter than before, and I give him a little nod. "Good. Lena, love, I need you to listen to me very carefully." My hand subconsciously comes to rest at his knee, to show that I'm paying attention. I usually do this to my patients in the hospitals. I either put a hand on their knee or shoulder to show that I'm listening to them. "I speak, not only on behalf of myself, but on behalf of everyone in this room when I say that you're going to make it out of here." Malcolm's words sound so promising, but it's not really up to him though. I go to pull back from him, but his grip on my chin turns firm and I stop. "Lena, look at me!" His voice rises a few octaves. "From one human being to another, I give you my word. You're coming with us, we're not leaving this place without you."

Something about the look he is giving me cuts deep into my soul, and I believe him. Being this close to him, and him providing me with comfort I never would've thought a man of his caliber would even care about, makes me believe what he says. I don't know what's in this for him, what's in this for them, but I allow myself to feel safe, even if it'll only last for a short time. I nod, I keep nodding.

"Okay." I accept his words. "Okay." A smile spreads widely on his face.

"Good, love, good." He caresses my chin once more and then releases it. "Now, be a good girl for me, and drink the water." Afraid of disappointing him, like a daughter could disappoint her father, I oblige. I slowly get up and return to the spot Nico surprisingly hasn't moved from. He offers me the bottle and I drink it.

"That's the fucking spirit, love." Isaac cheers me on, making me want to giggle. Ew, who the fuck even giggles. Malcolm interrupts us before I can embarrass myself further.

"Please have a seat by Nico. Weasel made his shackle too long so he is too much of a coward to come near him and I." I look down at the shackle, it really is surprisingly long. That's what she said. My mind is so fucked right now.

"Fucking shit for brains." Scarface adds. I'll have to agree with him on that. Weasel is a moron. Nico offers his hand to me and I cautiously take it. He leads me to where he was seated on the floor earlier, and puts himself between me and the door. He doesn't touch me further, but as I take a seat next to him, our shoulders touch. It feels safer here, like a burden being lifted from my shoulders.

"We should put a bottle under the dripping pipe, we don't know how long it'll be until my men track us down." Scarface looks at Malcolm and gestures to the pipe I collected water from when I cleaned his shoulder. That's actually a brilliant idea. Wait, his men? Of course, he has men, he's the heir to the damn mafia, and of course they'll be looking for him. "The water was clean, right pulce?" His eyes are suddenly on me, am I pulce? What the hell does that mean? Malcolm chuckles, is Scarface calling me something derogatory?